Mayor or Dictator … Time Will Tell

Mayor or Dictator?

I think AH Mayor Lori Hohenleitner has the makings of a great mayor one day. She is intelligent, knows how to research, and is very articulate. There is no doubt she loves her town and its people, and no doubt she is generous in helping those in need.  She is pleasant, loves to work, and understands the intricacies of municipal ordinances, resolutions, and actions.

But she’s new to the position, one she obviously loves and is very excited to hold. In her eagerness to do the best she can, and to meet her own commitment to shorter meetings, however, she comes off more like a dictator than a mayor interested in hearing what the people have to say or want to ask.  It’s a common mistake lots of new mayors make until they grasp the idea that sometimes even the folks who attend meetings can have some good ideas.

An example of that occurred at the last borough council meeting, which is recorded and available on the borough website. As a resident who attended the transitional board of education meeting, I listened to Councilman Doherty’s brief explanation at the council of what had happened at the board meeting. He made it clear he had not attended, but did indeed talk to the president, vice president, and superintendent to get his information.

Since the school board meetings are not recorded, not zoomed, and to the best of my knowledge not kept in perpetuity by the board of education in any form, I was surprised that the reports Mr. Doherty received did not include any input from the public, the people he and the mayor represent, whether it be at a board meeting or council session.  The three folks he questioned did not mention the fact they have no intention of recording or zooming their meetings, no mention that one resident objected to identifying female athletes differently from any athlete, no mention that a resident had to ask several times to have something repeated simply because she could not hear.

The nine persons who chose to take on the challenge of a brand new, never before tried transitional board of education deserve to be commended. It certainly will not be easy for them. Cory Wingerter as president will do an outstanding job, it is certain, as knowledgeable and interested as he is and as dedicated as he seems to be to do the right thing for the students as well as the taxpayers. But for a liaison to only report some of what happened at a meeting and not hear all about the convoluted opinion from the beginning of the meeting to the end does not give a full picture of what is happening.

The councilman’s report did not mention that a Highlands borough official stood and offered assistance to the board at the meeting. He did not mention the superintendent spent close to 15 minutes saying how behind the state was, how it’s the state’s fault deadlines might not be met, how she’s working every day on the regionalization how everything is so complicated. Yet when the Highlands official offered a suggestion, she and the board declined it, rudely, in fact, without even a thank you for a suggestion,, Then she said everything was under control, a far cry from ten minutes earlier when she had said there was no control.

But, When I tried to explain to the councilman during the borough council meeting that more happened at the meeting than was reported to him, the mayor rudely overrode my fairly strong voice to let me know that was board business, not borough business and she was the one running this meeting.

Really? If it isn’t  council business, why have a liaison to the board and have a report at a council meeting?  And if there is a report to be given, why present only part of what happens, the part that other officials, but not the public, has to say? The mayor referred me to the borough attorney on regionalization questions. My questions were about a meeting that neither she, the councilman nor the attorney  attended, in fact only a couple of people from Atlantic Highlands had attended.

The Mayor continued to halt my questions, but even Councilman Doherty wanted to explain something. He could and did, but my questions were never answered.

I wrote the councilman, who is really not only smart but kind and understanding, to apologize for trying to ask questions at the meeting and being interrupted by the mayor.

And while I appreciated his response, which was immediate and clear, that, too, was disappointing.  The councilman explained his purpose as liaison is to highlight what the board conveys to the public at their meeting(s) and to recognize some of the wonderful things happening in our school district. He added his role is to be the primary point of contact between the boards and the borough. Open lines of communication are helpful when there is collaboration required between our two bodies, he said.  I couldn’t agree more.

But couldn’t you provide more open lines of communication and more collaboration between the two bodies if both heard what the public said at a meeting? Or are not the public, or even an official of the other town in the regionalization plan important enough to have their suggestions be known outside of a non-recorded board of education meeting?

The disappointing part of the councilman’s very cordial and generous note made it clear that he has  “ no intention to report on public comment” at  school board meetings.  And all the time I thought he would indeed like to know what a taxpayer’s comment on at school board meeting was, what with more than half of the tax dollars they pay every year going directly to those school boards.

So there you have it. The Mayor doesn’t want the public to ask any questions of the person she named liaison to the school to keep the public informed;  the councilman is obeying that dictum;  A resident can try as she might to keep anybody at a council meeting, including the liaison,  informed, but that isn’t going to happen under Mayor Hohenleitner until she has enough experience in her new position to recognize that yes indeed, the public does have the right to know.